Page 3 of Ogres Don't Play

I shoved my elbow into his throat and tried to get space between us, almost forgetting about my harp. “Are you smelling me?!”

The gold flickered brighter before fading into complete darkness. “If you’d prefer I breathe through my mouth, that can be arranged, but ogres can taste by tongue as well as nose, so if you are trying to protect your scent, it will not work either way. If I lose consciousness from not breathing, you will be crushed by me as well as the stones covering us.”

I took a shallow breath and tried to hold still and not panic and not put too much weight on my harp and also not press into his raw, muscular body. “Right. Breathing is necessary, but do you have to be naked?”

He rumbled a low laugh that I felt from his belly into mine. The sound was so powerful in spite of how soft it was, barelyanything more than a breath, but that diaphragm could move mountains when it wanted. Which was interesting musically, because I’d heard ogres roar in battle and it wasn’t easy to forget. And now one of them was on top of me. And he had magic. And he’d saved me from the collapsing arch.

“I am wearing shorts,” he finally said. “Relax. They will dig us out soon enough. We aren’t on a desolate mountain or a lonely trail. They’ll probably even rescue us before I run out of air and lose consciousness and crush you to death.” He sounded so pleasant about crushing me to death.

“Then you shouldn’t talk so much. Try to conserve oxygen.” Where was my chicken? She must have flown off when I fell, transporting to safety. Could Yaga get help? Who would be the best person to rescue me? My brother would get rid of the stones, but he’d probably kill both of us in the process. Libby was a librarian, had married a powerful vampire, but I wasn’t sure how good she’d be at getting rid of rocks. Anna. Anna the healer, was also a sorcerer. She’d be able to get us out of this mess, no problem.

“Yaga, get Anna,” I whispered, frowning in concentration and pulling on the bindings that I had with the pretentious fire-chicken.

“What god are you praying to?” he rumbled in my ear, sending goosebumps over my skin. Ogres had very low voices, deep bass that could range lower than human hearing. His breath smelled like mint and wild wind as his cheek brushed my nose.

“Save your breath,” I responded because we really needed to conserve oxygen and I didn’t want to give attention to what that small contact with my nose had done to me. How many tons was the ogre holding up? Where had he come from? I would have noticed an enormous, mostly naked ogre in the town hall square, but I’d completely missed him.

We spent a few minutes in quiet darkness with only his ragged breathing and my shallow breaths keeping us company. It seemed like I could hear distant shouts, but it was impossible to be sure. I’d just pretend I was under a blanket fort in my bed back at the music hall. A breathing blanket fort with teeth and tusks.

“How are you holding up?” I whispered when his body started trembling with effort.

“I thought we weren’t speaking. Also, what would you do to assist me?”

I took a shaky breath. What could I do in this situation? Nothing appropriate, which would be to keep my distance and ignore the ogre if I weren’t trying to defeat him. If I didn’t want to die, I had to give him the magic I had for healing. It wasn’t much, because I was much better at killing, but every bit of strength made a difference. “I could sing strength into you. I’m better with an instrument, but I can certainly—” I started to sing, because no sense spending air on words when music could actually do something to help.

I pressed my palm against his chest over his heart and relaxed into the angel song, strengthening, encouraging, supporting him in his efforts to keep us from getting crushed. By the time the song was done, I was dizzy, partly from the lack of enough air, but mostly because this kind of magic wiped me out, the healing kind. My whole life I’d been trained for war, hurting not healing.

“You have a fine song,” he finally said, so soft that it could have been a distant wave crashing on the shore.

I was worn out, and the world faded in and out until finally, with a deafening silence, the stones turned into feathers, and the weight was lifted. The ogre rolled off me and pulled me to my feet while fluff floated all around, making it impossible to make out his features clearly, but what I saw was nothing close to theogre from inside, not when he was twice as large, with a jaw that could take a hit from a cannon beneath tusks made for killing, but his blue eyes were clear and crisp like a sky in autumn. His dark hair was tied back and covered in gray dust and fine feathers. There was no war in his eyes, even if I’d seen the gold marks of his battle magic.

"Come to the music hall and I will happily reward you for keeping me from getting crushed," I said, trying to look like I hadn’t just been beneath his mostly naked body. I waved away feathers so I could see all of him, but I only got a glimpse of his burly chest before he backed away towards the building, pushing through the feathers like a ship through the sea.

“You are the music master?”

I nodded and swept a feather off my face, but it stuck to my mouth and then my nose until I sneezed and a whole wave of feathers fluttered around, leaving me in a blizzard of white.

“Mirabel, is that you? Are you okay?” Anna waded into the mess of fluff with Yaga under her arm, looking like a mafia lord gone poultry. The low v of her tailored vest showcased her scars and gold chains, but it was the hat that tipped her over the edge into organized crime.

“Anna!” I lunged towards her, swimming through the feathers until I reached her. I threw my arms around her and held her tight while I tried not to hyperventilate. Although now I had enough air, I could hyperventilate if I wanted to.

I pulled back and took Yaga, cooing at her while she looked very proud of herself for being a rescue chicken. “You both saved me! Thank you so much.”

Anna smiled and patted Yaga on the head. “She thinks she’s the raging end of the world. From where I was standing, it seemed like the ogre was on top of you. Is he running off so fast because he doesn’t want me to tear off his limbs for getting inappropriate?”

I turned around and saw the ogre climbing the building. He was enormous. I’d fought large warriors, and he wasn’t any smaller than the finest specimens that could easily throw a horse, but he was also agile, graceful as he climbed, his pale blue skin rippling over his muscles.

Anna whistled. “You know, I’m getting the vibe that you didn’t mind that body all over you.” She wiggled her brows and winked at me.

I didn’t know what to say, although I was pretty sure my cheeks were getting pink. He’d saved me from getting crushed by the stone. Whoever he was and wherever he’d come from, I owed him my life. Yes he was fascinating to watch as he effortlessly hauled himself over the lip of the roof and vanished from sight, but that had nothing to do with what I really thought or wanted. I swung my harp off my shoulder, pulling it out of the case to check it. It was in pieces, my beautiful harp that I’d learned how to play on so long ago by the one civilized ogre in the war camp where I’d been kept for days as a young child.

My heart sank as I lifted one piece and then another. I’d deal with this later. I put everything back in my case and turned to smile at Anna, even though it felt wobbly. Everything felt wobbly.

“You turned everything into feathers?” I asked, kicking towards the edge where a large crowd had gathered and was watching with a great deal of interest.

“What can I say? Your chicken inspired me. What happened? How did the building collapse on you? Was it magically manipulated?” Anna pursed her lips. “I can’t check for residual magic because the stones are now feathers. Was your meeting with the mayor ominous? Do you think he wants to kill you?”

I sighed heavily and headed towards the street, past all the people staring at us. At least it had stopped raining. “He wants to kill me with work, not with falling buildings. The ogre really didkeep me from getting crushed to death. What can I give an ogre that says thank you without inferring lifetime servitude?”

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